There are some regions of the world that
are stereotypically perceived to be subject
to greater risks of a specifi c nature than
others, where such risks may not even enter into
the mind of a potential tourist. For instance,
there are probably not many tourists who are
concerned about the risk of hurricanes when
booking their trip in Europe, although hurricanes
(infrequently) do occur in that region.
However, there may be some concerns about
such natural phenomena if they are considering
booking a vacation between June and November
in, say, the Caribbean. Similarly, the Middle
East may give rise to enhanced travel-risk perceptions
because of political unrest and terrorism.
However, one might expect that people
travelling within their own region of the world
to have lower travel-risk perceptions than if
they are travelling to a different region with
more unknowns and less familiarity. This is
because the assessment of travel risk is relative,
with people judging the risk of a potential destination
partly based on their own sense of
norm. This paper examines the factors that may
give rise to enhanced travel-risk perceptions
and the damage to the image of the Middle East
in general and to Iran in particular.